Raised in Dungeon

"Your Highness! Your Highness! Where are you!"

In the capital city, inside the castle. The maids were busy running around. This caught the attention of the third prince, Alicia, who was sitting in the flower garden alone. She heard the sound of someone's feet rushing, which disrupted her reading session. A while after, a maid was running around in a frenzy, and they kept yelling, "Your highness," Their arms were full of fancy fabrics, polish for furniture, and another task for preparing the whitmoon festival and the prince's 12th-year party. They look so busy, yet they are still searching for "Your Highness." What made them so panicked that they had to put work aside?

"What's the matter?" Alicia asked a passing maid because the maid did not refer to which "highness" they called; she thought they were calling for her.

The maid was immediately surprised to see Alicia calling out to her.

"I'm sorry, princess!" the maid yelled as she bowed.

The maid realized she was rude in front of the princess for not addressing her directly. It was because all workers in the castle had to greet or bow first to the royal family when they saw them. Usually, a royal family who came out of the castle would be accompanied by their knight or soldier, so the workers who passed the royal family would immediately know their presence because they saw the soldiers or the guard. But Alicia was alone in the flower garden, so the maid didn't know she was there.

"It's okay; I wondered why you looked so panicked. Is there a problem?" Alicia asked again.

"His highness, Sir Francis, escaped from class, princess. Lady Sabine instructed me to look for him immediately."

"Oh, that boy... he skipped class again. Is he really going to grow up after his baptism?"

...

Eight days before the whitmoon festival begins.

One hour ago,

A boy was looking at the sky behind his study window. His hair was golden yellow, a color that only the royal family had. His blue eyeballs shone brightly, but his face looked sluggish and bored.

Why not? He had already spent an hour listening to his private tutor talk to him about noble etiquette, public morals, and royal politics. Meanwhile, he drifted in his mind, thinking about the exciting adventure in the dungeon where he killed the legendary dragon with a single slash of his sword. After a few hours of daydreaming, his teacher, who had noticed it, hit the table in front of him hard.

"Oh your highness, you have to listen to me this time! You are the prince of this kingdom; you should at least know basic things like this!" his teacher shouted fiercely. The teacher was an old woman with round glasses and purple bobbed hair.

"But Sabine, it's all so boring. I don't think I'm cut out for learning morals and ethics," he said as he pushed a large book on his desk.

The boy was the fourteenth prince of the Wildenhall Kingdom, Francis Ismenia Wildenhall. He was currently studying in his study room with his private tutor. His study room was more like his private room. He sat on a sofa, and Sabine stood before him, holding a small 30x30 centimeter chalkboard.

"Huuh… Well… It looks like you won't be able to focus on your study now. Then what do we do? Should we start practicing dancing?"

"Haaah, that's just as boring as studying. Why should I practice dancing?!"

"Whitmoon festival is coming up; you must be good at dancing to keep your face. If you're bad at dancing, you won't attract anyone to be your fiancee."

"What are men dancing for? None of the heroes in the past were good at dancing! And all of them had beautiful wives! The hero Osgood was a big ugly man, but he had the most beautiful princess wife in the world; and the hero Allen I heard was only a peasant yet he had an elf wife! Do you know what they all have in common?!"

The prince stood up and drew the sword on his back.

-CLANK

But he couldn't pull it out; the sword was stuck in its sheath. His hand wasn't long enough to pull it out properly.

"Uooogh!"

"Yo-your highness..."

She pulled it again but still couldn't. The sword was still stuck in the sheath.

"Ukh! Why at a time like this!" muttered Francis.

Because he was trying to be cool but ended up being embarrassed, his face turned red. He then used both hands to pull at the sword on his back, lifting it gradually so that it could come out.

-CLANK

The sword fell; he picked it up awkwardly and immediately pointed it at Sabine.

"That is this! Sabine!"

"'this' what?" because of the awkward situation, Francis's conversation pause became long. So she could not comprehend what the prince meant.

"The heroes! The reason they can have beautiful wives is this! The power of invincibility! Like my brothers Eldritch and Leofric!"

Sabine held her head as she shook it.

"That was in the old days, my prince. Strength is important, but nowadays, people also look at ethics and manners. Your brothers already have good manners. Besides, are you sure you can be stronger than your brothers? If you can't, and it turns out that your ethics, manners, and intelligence are poor, what will you do?"

"That is why I should train more! I didn't have time to study ethics! Don't compare me with my brothers!"

Prince Francis, overwhelmed with anger, snatched a book from his desk and hurled it at Sabine. Caught off guard, Sabine reacted by throwing her arms up in defense.

"Ouch!"

As a result, her glasses flew off her face and shattered on the ground. At that moment, a deafening silence engulfed the room. Feeling powerless and ashamed, the prince didn't say a word. Unable to bear it any longer, he turned to the window, opened it, and jumped onto the tree outside. Startled by this sudden act, Sabine shouted at him in panic, "Wait! Your Highness! Don't go anywhere!" Her voice could not reach him even in her desperation as he swiftly ran away.

"MAID! CAME INSIDE!" called Sabine.

"Yes, my lady?"

Sabine put on her broken glasses, then sighed.

"Prince Francis has escaped; please find him immediately!" she said.

"Yes, my lady."

After the maid left the room, Sabine sat on the sofa with a long sigh

"That child... even though the whitmoon festival is imminent, he still didn't know the basics of being an adult noble."

Suddenly someone opened the door without knocking, making Sabina immediately startled.

"Who's there? This is the prince's room; knock before-"

"How dare you talk to me like that, Sabina."

It was Prince Francis's mother and the eighth Queen, Queen Ismenia Whyburgh Wildenhall.

She wore a luxurious dress covered in gold laces, draping various diamonds around her neck. Her bright blue hair was tied up with gold strings. and eyeshadow on her amber eyes.

Sabina immediately recognized the queen. Her entire body shook in shock. She couldn't believe that the Queen had come to the prince's room without knocking. Despite Sabina's surprise and confusion, she bowed deeply in respect.

"I- I apologize, your majesty! I didn't see you properly!" Sabina immediately bowed in apology. For someone old enough, bowing that low made her waist hurt.

The Queen stared at Sabina briefly before speaking, "I want to kill you for what you did, but for now, it's okay. I want to see my son, Francis. Are you aware of his whereabouts?"

"I do apologize, your majesty. The prince is resting after a long hour of study; he will return soon; please wait a moment."

"Ah, no need. I just want to take him to visit the ailing king, maybe next time." Queen said as she walked away from there,

However, Queen Ismenia abruptly turned around and said

"Ah, right. How was his learning progressing? Is he ready for his birthday party?"

"With all due apologies, he is still not ready. I will make him ready before the party."

"I see; as long as he can perform well in public, I don't care. I believe you are the best person to teach that child; after all you are the one who breastfed and raised him longer than I. But if he performs poorly at the party..."

Queen opened the fan she was holding, covered her face, and then peered around the fan at Sabina.

"If I'm humiliated because of that child, I will absolutely kill you." Her eyes looked into the dark, looking at Sabina seriously and grippingly.

"Y-yes, your majesty."

Queen got out of there.

At that moment, Sabina immediately sighed while holding her gouty waist.

On the way out, the maids who saw the queen started gossiping,

"How arrogant when she is only the youngest queen and is often called by the king to his room."

"She's the lowest in the royal family, so she behaves like that to people lower than her."

"She's just the king's bedmate, no different from a concubine."

"But, isn't she a former concubine?"

"Pfft, that's right."